What I want to know: what role would a video codec called h.264 and software patents play in all of this…?

Mass surveillance is so much easier if there is just one codec and if an american organisation, the MPEG-LA – still protected by the US government – controls the moving image worldwide…

RAP NEWS 19 – Whistleblower

Written by Giordano Nanni & Hugo Farrant – Juice Rap News

– Good afternoon, viewers, thank you for clicking
through to view this exclusive brand new edition
of Juice Rap News back through with a global transmission
with your host Robert Foster, and we’re glad to begin

by introducing this routine interview scheduled today,
with our regular US guest, now director of the NSA,
General Baxter – Hi – Can you provide via satellite
an update on the state of Empire? – Bob, I have to confide

I’m satisfied. In fact, I got no axe to grind.
Our Nobel Peace prize President mastermind
has a healthy appetite for sending drones to smash the lives
of Brown children… Muslims… I mean terrorist hoodlums

Egregious… – Goddamn right we agree it’s just;
Every American’ll feel hot pangs of pride when they hear of this.
But guess what I’m most excited about that’s finally happening
– What? – The court martial of Private Bradley Manning

Three years without trial and a touch of torture
That’s how we punish dissent in the Free World Order.
After this, no one will dare blow whistles, or leak intel
or question our right to read every single freaking email… oops

– Did you just say you read everyone’s emails?
– What? emails? no, we don’t read, scan, track, record and store every detail
– At all? – no sir. not wittingly…
perhaps a few billion emails… accidentally

– A hero has leaked classified documents finally proving
that the NSA has secretly obtained access directly to all
the servers of Facebook, Apple, Yahoo, Youtube, Skype, and Google,
this PRISM system for spying on users from the dark side of the Moon’ll

record everything, that arrives on screens: emails, chats, Grindr feed
Robert, it took great courage from this whistle blower to decide to leak
they’ve taken a great risk in getting us, their fellow citizens
this critical glimpse into what is really happening.. behind the scenes

– Mark Zuckerberg, your position? – word, sit back, listen
you rocking with Zuckerberg, fuckin’ nerd tactician
– So PRISM? – what’s that, ‘PRISM’? Never even heard of that system
yeah we got a program running, but we call it FASCISM

– Uh okay then…General, would you like to make a statement?
– I’m disgusted – You are? that’s amazing
– I had no idea that this could occur, It’s devastating
– shocking, I concur; so will there be an investigation?

– You betcha, we’re gonna get those who broke their oath to the law
– Wonderful… – And hold them responsible, this has gone too far.
– I think the whole world feels the same… – Call Gitmo!
I’m personally going to torture whoever leaked all this info

– Wait, what…? – We’ve become a frickin’ culture of leaks
What if every uppity geek who happens not to agree
with the state’s tyranny decided to expose it to all and sundry
– That might lead to a revolution – Indeed! see what I mean?

Look, we welcome this debate, openly. free speech is sanctified
– Ok then, does the NSA keep… – Sorry that’s classified
– so what are the laws for the… – EEENG!! Access denied
– Well, how can we see – Oops debate time has expired…

– Ah hold on, we’re picking up another feed: this time from Hong Kong
Glen?! – It’s me again, I got an update on what’s going on
– Greenwald! We’re gonna prosecute you for reason… I mean treason
– Uh-uh! your threats are no match for my shield and

you’ll cower under the weight of words when I’m weilding my pen-sword
By the power of Greenwald!
– Ah… did you have an update for the people? – oh, yeah… now World,
meet the brave leaker, Edward Snowden
He’s made a video to reveal his motives for whistle-blowin’

Workin a for dem N-SA down in Hawaii
findin-a me some paper that na be irie
’bout de Babylon put fire ;pon de civil liberty
so me decide fi trade me safety
for de sake o-defend all-ah-me city-zen privacy
if ya see supm, say supm, follow me, and be

– Well, dear viewers, that’s about it for this edition
But it wouldn’t be complete without some final questions
Whistleblowers. They leak in the public interest.
now what remains to be known is: is the public interested?

If so, this might be a good day to exhibit it:
Ignorance is a choice, in the age of the internet
Many consider this all very bewildering
Some praise these acts as heroic, worthy of mimicking

Others condemn them as illegal and prohibited
But, can’t both be equally applicative?
To be good humans we’re sometimes called upon to be bad citizens.
Some nations were even born by breaking laws of the tyrranous.

Do you support heroes from days of yore
who in order to cause reforms disobeyed the law?
Then what about those in the present who heed the same call?
This is Robert Foster for Rap News, good day to you all

To all you Corporate Fascists, to all copyright thieves and patent trolls, to all the abusers, to the Joe Bidens, the Steve Jobs and the Bill Gates of this world (and their patent troll Moloch organisation MPEG-LA that steals everyones h.264 video footage *), h.264 still being used in every Apple smart phone as we speak while the first Android phones using the open-source WebM/VP8 codec are coming out right now), to all you greedy thieves:

I turned 40 earlier this year and I believe I now have seen enough crap and need to clearly warn the generations coming after me! You know those who may or may not vote for you at the next election and opt for the Pirate Party instead, or those who may stop buying your products because they realise you simply screw them wherever you can (would you trust a company with non-linear video editing that at the same time holds patents on a video codec that you (may need to!) use and that you need to pay licensing fees for every time you use your own work commercially…?!).

“Trudy Muller, an Apple spokeswoman, said the company had removed the app “because it violated our developer guidelines.” Ms. Muller added: “Apps must comply with all local laws and may not put an individual or group in harm’s way.”“

This is simply an excuse for censorship.

I’ve been of course boycotting Apple (and switched to PC hardware/Linux) ever since they let me down with my broken iMac G5 after a Leopard “upgrade” that went badly wrong and when they then even removed my post to their forum about the matter in April 2008.

Some perspective on those last links…

From Steve Jobs to MPAA, MPEG-LA, ACTA and your life

Steve Jobs of course is not only the CEO of Apple, but used to be the CEO of Pixar, that was before he sold Pixar to Disney and subsequently became “Disney’s largest individual shareholder at 7% and a Director of the company” (see Wikipedia).

***

Now there is an organisation called Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA).

And there is another interesting organisation called MPEG-LA (links to my related blog entries),

this is the patent pool behind H.264 and MPEG-2:

MPEG-2 is what everyone needs for a DVD.

H.264 is the codec used in basically any (prosumer) camera, including mobile phones like in Apple’s offerings. As previously discussed: you do not own your own H.264 footage, even transcoding will not help you in escaping the MPEG-LA’s licensing fees (for commercial use).

Apple of course is also an H.264 patent holder and was the only major player not willing to give some kind of official support to the free and open-source WebM project.

“Yes, in view of the marketplace uncertainties regarding patent licensing needs for such technologies…”

= “In view of the FUD we spread…”

“…there have been expressions of interest from the market urging us to facilitate formation of licenses…”

= “…we’ve been repeatedly told that we are nothing but a patent troll Moloch (supported by Apple, MS and others)…”

“…that would address the market’s need for a convenient one-stop marketplace alternative to negotiating separate licenses with individual patent holders…”

= “…that is simply collecting protection money…”

“…in accessing essential patent rights for VP8 as well as other codecs, and we are looking into the prospects of doing so.”

= “…since we actually believe we own the moving image per se.”

Once more the translation:

“In view of the FUD we spread we’ve been repeatedly told that we are nothing but a patent troll Moloch (supported by Apple, MS and others) that is simply collecting protection money since we actually believe we own the moving image per se.”